Meet the graveyard clerk who trounced July Moyo




Lloyd Mukapiko
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REDCLIFF – The fall of July Moyo, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s most trusted confidante in the July 30 2018 elections is the story of David versus Goliath.

Moyo, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, a well educated and respected man fell to the most humble of candidates.

He was trounced in his bid for the Redcliff Parliamentary seat by Lloyd Mukapiko (pictured), a man who allocates graves at the council-run Cemetry.

Mukapiko is a  chap who has no professional qualifications. Before his current job as a graveyard assistant with Redcliff Municipality, Mupiko once worked as a pest control general hand.

He is also a self-taught bricklayer.

“I am an ordinary person coming from the masses whom I identify with in my day-to-day life. These are the people who have made me what I am today.

“It was a contest in which I had limited finances to oil my campaign but I prevailed. I thank the masses and now the ball is in my court for me to represent them in the House of Assembly to the best of my ability,” said Mukapiko.

His victory broke Zanu PF’s stranglehold on Redcliff that has run since 2008. A onetime pest-controller also with the local authority, Mukapiko’s victory means he has achieved what prominent MDC-T national youth chairperson Happymore Chidziva failed to do against outgoing ZANU PF MP, Harris Ncube in the 2013 elections.

Mukapiko says he will not leave his humble dwellings in Torwood despite his rise to lofty heights. He says that he will be a listening MP hence he will not leave the people.

“I come from a very humble background and I am a proud holder of a Class 2 bricklaying certificate. I joined Redcliff Municipality in 2003 where I was employed as a pest controller with the local authority. I was then redeployed and I am now a graveyard assistant, where I assist people with burial records and allocate them burial places.

“People refer to me as an undertaker but I do not really mind. My work is to give people a dignified exit from this life. I am different from these lofty politicians who make people miserable in this life by stealing from them,” he said. – Mazvingo Mirror